One Step Ahead of The Devil
by purpledragon6
Summary: Stanley makes a surprise appearance back in his brother's life during college crunch time in an attempt to work things out. To make matters worse, their mother is determined to reunite her family, and what better way to do it when they're all trapped under one roof? Rated T for swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** : **Stanley makes a surprise appearance back in his brother's life during college crunch time in an attempt to work things out. To make matters worse, their mother is determined to reunite her family, and what better way to do it when they're all trapped under one roof?)**

A thesis paper should be the easiest thing to write. Just pick up your pencil and write until the assignment is either complete or your roommate forces you to stop because your hand is now showing visible signs of cracking- or at least cramping. Yeah, it was that easy. Just gotta... Start writing it all down. Touch the graphite to the grounded tree pulp and... Go. That easy.

"At the very least, it SHOULD be that easy." Stanford sighed, closing his textbook.

He had been at this for almost an hour. Trying to force words onto paper but he always ended up just glaring at his blank paper in discontent. Usually, he would have been done by now and already started on his next four assignments that weren't due for months, but today he just felt odd- in the sense that he felt like the gears in his brain were clogged and refusing to move up to their usual speed.

"Should be what?" Fiddleford asked suddenly, busily working on his own project.

Ford almost jumped at the sound of his voice. His roommate was so quiet at times that sometimes he actually forgot that the man was still there. It was embarrassing to say the least, when he would talk out loud thinking that he was alone. Though, he had to say, this was his least embarrassing speel.

"This paper should be easy enough to write." Stanford reiterated quickly, holding up the empty sheet for emphasis. "But I can't seem to write a single word."

"Are you sick?" The concern was evident in his voice.

In an instance, Fiddleford ditched his pencil and homework and made an attempt to quietly inch closer to his bottle of disinfectant. Ford frowned at the action for a split second, but then shook his head.

"Perhaps," He admitted. "Do you have an aspirin over there?"

"Perhaps? And- perhaps. Let me look."

Well, the sound of rummaging on the other side of the room wasn't going to help Stanford much. Maybe now was as good a time as ever to take a break to converse further with his friend.

"Yes. A mix of a physical headache and a foreboding." A white tablet was suddenly flung at his head.

"A foreboding? Since when do ya'll ever pay attention to those?" Fiddleford asked.

"Never, but today it's distracting." Ford took the aspirin without water. He didn't have the time to get himself a glass. "Like something is about to alter my world again."

"How do you reckon?" Now his roommate looked twice as concerned.

"If I knew that, then I wouldn't be like this."

With a sigh, Stanford laid down on his side for once. Not to sleep, just to mull. As if sitting still might get the forces of the universe to come forth and say "Hey dummy, guess what!". Even if that wasn't feasible without a universal language translator and a portal to get there.

"I think you're just sick then." Fiddleford shook his head, walking over to Ford and snagging his textbook away.

This would have been around the time that Stanford would angrily snatch the book back and then proceed to fight him for the chance to overwork on his assignments. Yet another thing that was oddly different about this day.

* * *

 **Meanwhile:**

"Ma, I just got into town- No, I haven't seen him yet!" Stanley said.

He was hanging over the side of a pay phone, trying and failing to talk to his mother (it was like he never left home). Down to his last quarter, this was his last shot at finding this damn college with help… Maybe he shouldn't have called his ma. It would have been safer if he just called random numbers and hoped one person who picked up the phone knew the location of Backupsmore. At least then he would still have his quarters instead of wasting them on continuing calls that his mother would run down while trying to catch up with him.

"Sweetheart, just be careful." She said softly. "Your brother is in a… sensitive place."

"Geez, you think?" He snapped, before quickly blushing. "I-I'm sorry, ma-"

He hated being short with her, but this was his last chance to get any information out of her and they had already been talking for two minutes now.

"Sweetheart, you're in a bad place too." He could almost hear her frown. "I wish you'd come back home. Your father is-"

Stanley's frustration with his mother shifted suddenly. Now he was remembering the OTHER reasons why he never called home. Not just because his Ma talked a mile a minute about things that weren't helpful, but it was also because he feared his father picking up the phone and making things worse on him.

"A jackass? Besides, I'm doing fine on my own." That was a lie and they both knew it.

"Very well… I'll give you the college address. Try to call me when you get there."

Half of Stan expected the quarter to run out before she had the chance to tell him where he needed to go. The other half was screaming about how he didn't bring a piece of paper with. Either way, he was finally getting somewhere and would have to remember pretty damn hard. He sucked in a breath, shifting all of his brainpower into his memory in an attempt to mentally take all this down.

"Okay, its on 12-" Son of a bitch. Looks like he was going to have to find another quarter and fast!

He never was particularly lucky, but he was always determined as hell.


	2. Chapter 2

One Step Ahead of the Devil: Chapter 2

(Written during the Gravity Falls marathon for forduary at the inspiration of my co-writer hntrgurl13 )

There's something magical about sleep. The peacefulness, the way that peace can be broken by a sudden dream, memory, nightmare- Or your roommate kicking you down to the ground suddenly to wake you.

"I'm all for you sleeping and what not-" Fiddleford sighed, "But class starts in 20 minutes and you have a visitor."

Ford groaned and glared up at the man. His eyes were still stinging from sleep and his back hurt from the sudden tumble he had been forced to take. It was definitely a Thursday then. Thursday was the only day they had classes as early as-

"Its 2 in the afternoon!? How long was I asleep for!?" Ford exclaimed, scrambling upright.

"Hard to tell, actually." Fiddleford said. "You were talking to yourself in your sleep but before that you had your face so buried in this books that I didn't notice anything."

"Why didn't you wake me sooner when you found out!?" Ford stood and took a quick glance in his mirror. Hair was a mess, shirt was days old, and the bags under his eyes were almost blue. It put his mind at ease knowing that he looked like himself and not a total mess. Their class was a ten minute walk anyhow, and the other ten had to go to this "visitor" and not a shower. With a final nod of approval, he started for the door.

But was then stopped by Fiddleford.

"You can't greet your mother looking like that!" He said, handing Ford a mug of coffee from their desk. "Go make yourself look presentable."

"I look fine and I AM fine." Ford huffed, chugging the coffee quickly to prove his point- "Wait- My Mother is here!?"

"I just said that she was." A roll of the eyes. "Learn to listen, Stanford."

"I'll take a listening class so long as you take one on lying! Why didn't you just tell her that I was busy or not here?"

Rubbing his temple, Stanford took off towards the dorm room bathroom and grabbed the first bottle of whatever was on the counter and applied it to his face.

"That's toothpaste. The shaving creme is-" Fiddleford ducked to avoid the tube from hitting him in the face. "I was going to tell her you weren't here, but I got nervous! That woman may be a pathological liar, but she can sniff out a rat no problem!"

"Pines family curse." Ford sighed, wincing at the cooling sensation of the toothpaste as he used it to shave with. It was almost pleasant, and it certainly helped to wake him up. "We know when to tell if someone is trying to scam us."

"Well, I'm not a Pines, so your mother saw right through me. Now hurry up so I can let her in."

Wiping his face off with his shirt, Stanford was quick to strip out of it and toss it aside. He then grabbed another shirt that surely couldn't be that dirty and wiggled into it, stopping only once to pull his head out of the sleeve and to correctly push it through the neckhole. It only killed about two minutes, and surely 8 would be enough for his mother's visit. With that, he returned to their room.

"How do I look?" Not that he cared.

"Sweet Sally, you somehow look worse than before you." Fiddleford said. "Its perfect. She won't suspect a thing."

"Thanks…" Ford said before tossing open the door to reveal his mother.

She looked awfully angry with him. Her arms were folded under her chest, and her nose was turned up a little. One- er, two things with her that surprised Ford was his father and his baby sister standing behind her.

"So, you're studies are too important for you to get your damn door?" She huffed. "You go to college and you suddenly think you're some hot-shot college boy?"

"Ma- Its good to see you." Hopefully she wouldn't detect his lies.

"Likewise. Now go get yourself cleaned up. We're going out for a late lunch." Ma said, "You're friend can come too."

"L-lunch? Ma, we have class-"

"They won't miss you if you only have one class today." Ma rolled her eyes. "Now hurry up."

"Ma-" Ford sighed and shuffled back to the bathroom. He might have studied fierce and horrifying monsters, but none of that could prepare him for dealing with his mother. Even as a grown ass man who paid his own taxes now.

He could heard Fiddleford quietly loosing his Southern shit over the whole ordeal. The logical side of Ford's brain made note to purchase a foghorn during lunch and setting it off at an ungodly hour as payback. But that would have to wait until after lunch. Revenge wouldn't be as sweet if he had to execute it as a spirit because his mother killed him for rejecting her lunch offer. Perhaps that was the foreboding he had felt earlier on. Just a little visit with his family and-

"Ma? Wait- Dad!?" That voice had Ford racing to his bathroom window and tossing it open so hard that the screen fell off.

"Sixer…?" He could hear Stanley's voice clear as day and that made him decide that escaping now and taking an ear lashing on the phone later would be best.

Ma, he could handle. No issue, but there was no way he would even think to be in the same room as HIM again. Or at least, not yet anyway. Nope, he was just going to make a hasty escape now and try again later.

"Don't you dare-" He could hear his mom about after him, a few seconds too late as he was soon out of the window and into a nearby bush with the window screen.

Call it juvenile, but he was soon running for his life from his family. Undoubtedly, his roommate was searching frantically for their Polaroid camera to document this historic moment that the usually put-together, hard working Stanford Pines climbed out of a bathroom window to avoid being seen by his twin… And then promptly hit his head on a low hanging tree branch that he hadn't seen in his way.

.

.

.

There was something magical about sleep. One second you're running, and the next second you're in the back of a rented van with a pounding headache and a bag of ice on your head. Oh, and you wake up to everyone trying not to laugh at your stupidity. All except for Stanley, who offered a worried smile that Ford promptly ignored in favor of glaring at his parents in the front seats.

"Glad you could join us." Ma said, smiling into the rearview mirror at her son. "You're going to love this place, and it's only five minutes from your school!"

"This is abduction, mother." Stanford huffed. "I am being driven there against my will."

"Oh, hush. It's just lunch and then we drop you right back at school." Ma said. "It'll be fun."

"No. We have to make a quick stop at the CVS to get copies of your friend's pictures." Filbrick said sternly.

"Yes, those were just too cute-"

"Epseically the one of your stupid ass passed out on the sidewalk." Filbrick said. "We're getting that one framed."

"You looked like a little sleepy bear cub." All the blood in Stanford's body rushed up to his ears, and he pushed himself back into the car seat in an attempt to make himself smaller.

It was bad enough that he was stuck in a car with this lot, but being embaressed by them was even worse-

"Cheer up, bro." Stanley's voice was grating as ever, but still not the worst thing in the car right now. "Its not as bad as that sailor suit picture-"

"Oh! Thank you for reminding me, Stanley." Ma exclaimed. "I need to get that one put out too!"

Stanford groaned louder, slipping so far down in his seat that he was only one more groan away from laying on the floor. Just lunch or not, this was definitely going to be the longest day of his life-

"We're here." His dad muttered. "Everyone out."

Well, at least that hadn't taken too long. One thing down at least. Maybe he would be out of here before he knew it. With that in mind, he pulled himself up and got out of the car to join the others inside.

It was a nice place. Light coloured walls, some fake flowers on the walls- just a typical diner it looked like. The large tables were also a bonus, as it left Stanford with the option of sitting as far away from everyone else as possible. Yes. He was almost certain he could sit through lunch.

"It'll only be a half-hour- 45 minutes at the most-" He told himself. "No big deal."

.

He never liked to admit when he was wrong, but this time he knew he was wrong. The family had been sitting for 20 minutes now without saying a word to each other, and it was clear now that no one was going to leave that table until they ALL had a decent conversation with each other. This trip was starting to feel more like an interrogation than a lunch date with family.

"So, how is everyone?" Ma started. "Stanley? How's work?"

"Oh, you know… Just got another rabies shot is all." Stanley said. "The usual."

That almost made Ford feel bad for his twin, but his father's sudden grunt scared him back to reality.

"Still don't see why HE had to come with." Filbrick scoffed. "Thought you said we were just coming to visit Stanford."

"I know what I said, Filbrick." Ma snapped. "When I said the whole family, I meant the whole family."

"But Ma, what about Shermie?" Ford piped up suddenly, against his better judgement.

All eyes were on him suddenly. According to his Human Sociology class, that meant that he was now apart of the conversation and that thet were waiting for him to make a comment. He should've trusted his judgement.

"A-anyhow." He coughed, looking into his cup of coffee as if it held all of his answers.

"Kids got a point. Why bring Stanley with if we don't have the "whole" family too." Filbrick said, tension growing.

"Because Ma invited me and I said I would pay for myself." Stanley snapped, pushing himself from the table. "Sorry I wasn't jackass enough to say no to her!"

Ford jumped, actually startled by the sudden outburst. Sure, he knew Stanley wasn't that smart, but he was usually smart enough NOT to talk to their father that way. It almost made him wonder what had happened to Stanley since he last saw him that gave him such tough skin.

"Excuse me, boy?" Filbrick's tone change was one Stanford recognized as the voice he used to intimidate.

That voice was startling when he was a child and it was still startling now. He could see that it had shaken Stanley too, but his twin remained standing.

"You heard me…" Stanley said, turning towards the restaurant exit. "I'll just go then."

"NO!" Ma certainly had everyone in the restaurant's attention now. "I don't care what Stanley did to Stanford or what he said you you, we are going to sit here and have a family lunch and pretend to love each other, God damn it!"

Ford felt the blood return to his ears as he pulled the coffee mug up to hide it. This was definitely going to be the longest lunch visit of his life. But with their lives and his mother's happiness on the line, he began to try and remind himself that it was just one day.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Its hard to be one step ahead when the Devil knows your life's story before its even happened to you.

Contains Hntrgurl13's Adeline Marks, but is NOT canon to our TOA story.

* * *

7 YEARS LATER:

 _"I don't have to tell you anything, Adeline." Stanford snapped._

 _Adeline winced, watching as her boss furiously dawned his signature coat. She must have known that she had overstepped some boundaries now. Sneaking around in his bedroom and stealing a photo album wasn't her smartest move, obviously, but reading it out in the open went beyond stupid. The pictures in it were starting to shape a better picture of why Stanford never talked about his home life to her, but it still left so many questions. That was the way he intended to keep things. Just a series of unanswered questions that only he knew the answers to.._

 _"I-I'm sorry-" She started. "I just wanted to-"_

 _"You're sorry and you're fired." Ford said bluntly. "I'll send you your last check and I want you out of here by morning."_

 _"S-Stanford-!? You can't mean that!"_

 _"I could forgive your outburst in the middle of my class last year, I've already forgiven you for taking my journal that same day-" He paused, just go grab the photo album back and promptly stick it over the stove top. "But I won't tolerate this."_

 _Adeline's eyes widened as she watched blue flames leap from the metal top, almost instantly catching the worn album. A warm orange spread across the book in seconds, and soon it was nothing more than a smoldering pile of almost made Stanford feel a little guilty for frightening her... But his anger over the situation won out, crushing any bit of remorse he might have felt for destroying such precious memories._

 _"Stanford…?" If she was going to leave, he might as well let her ask one more question. "Why…?"_

 _"I don't know to tell you anything, Adeline." His voice was empty this time, and yet still they both could swear she heard a hidden emotion of some kind in there._

 _She watched him quietly as he went to his lift, opened the door, and disappeared down into the darkness of the basement without sparing her a single glance._

* * *

6 YEARS PRIOR:

 _Adeline sighed softly, he could see it through the closed window. She was idly stirring her lukewarm coffee with her finger. There wasn't a single spoon in the house as a result of some silly mishap from earlier. The cause of the mishap was still outside with Stanford, furiously trying to get his microwave out of a tree for him, with the aid of their little sister._

 _He couldn't help but overhear his assistant's giggle as she watched. He would have to address that later, as the warm fall sun beating down on him was starting to make him uncomfortable and the microwave still stuck in place was making him frustrated. His spoons were melted to it and the tree, bonding them together in such a way that he was sure nothing would be salvageable in this mess._

 _"This is all your fault." Stanford remove his jacket in a sudden rage and threw it to the ground, before rolling up his sleeves and trying once more to at least grab the plug of the damn thing._

 _His siblings following in suit with their own fall jackets with the littlest, Shirley now age 8 (he assumed) trying to climb the trees thereafter. Her efforts brought a small smile to his face, and gave him an idea on how she could get it down for him (with a little help from her brothers, of course)._

 _"How was I supposed to know you shouldn't put metal in the microwave!?" Stanley's exclamation made Stanford's smile disappear again.  
_

 _He hadn't been consistently happy these days, especially with the arrival of his family, and his assistant's ever persistent questions of them. It all reminded him of the incident at his college some 6 years ago. All he needed was one more stupid comment-_

 _"I wonder if this is how they're always like." Adeline said out loud, obviously thinking she wasn't going to be heard. "It must have been nice having all those siblings around him…"_

 _Little did she know that she was very far off from the truth. She didn't know of Stanley ruining Stanford's project, or Stanford jumping out of the window to avoid his brother, nor did she know the exact details surrounding Ford's move to the Falls from Jersey._

* * *

PRESENT DAY:

Stanford felt like he was being held captive. Nodding off during the meal and the car ride to-wherever they were going to next. He'd find himself in a world much like his own, but older. A world where, no matter where he went, he just couldn't shake his crazy family for even a minute. No one would just leave him be-.

"I have class." Stanford said out loud, shutting his eyes once again.

"Your professors won't mind if you miss one day." His Ma scoffed. "You look like you need a nap anyhow. Just close your eyes and enjoy the ride."

"Unless you're concussed. Then you should probably-" Stanford didn't catch the rest of whatever his idiot twin was about to say.

He was out not even a second later, ready to enter he next year of his strange dreams.


End file.
